While platforms such as Amazon Mechanical Turk have generated excitement as a
potential source of income in developing regions, to date there remains little
evidence that such opportunities have transformed livelihoods for low-income
workers. In this study, we analyze the usability barriers that prevent those with
basic digital literacy skills from accomplishing simple tasks on Mechanical Turk.
Based on our observations, we design new user interfaces that reduce the barriers
to task comprehension and execution. Via a study of 49 low-income workers in
urban India, we demonstrate that new design elements – including simplified user
interfaces, simplified task instructions, and language localization – are
absolutely necessary to enable low-income workers to participate in and earn
money using Mechanical Turk. We synthesize our findings into a set of design
recommendations, as well as a realistic analysis of the potential for
microtasking sites to deliver supplemental income to lower-income
communities.